by Claire Carmichael
'PRIVACY IS DEAD - UNLESS YOU'RE RICH ENOUGH TO PAY FOR IT'
Themes and Issues the novel explores include;
Set in the future, the novel revolves around a teenager named Karr Robinson. In his world, no one has secrets. Everyone is branded with an identity code and you must have a code to access all public buildings and to have a job in order to earn money. People without these codes are considered ‘oblits’ and do not officially exist. All information in the world is controlled by government powers and people employed by the government to monitor all this information are called data lords. There is no privacy in this world anymore because no one is allowed to keep secrets.
Karr and his father have had their identities ‘obliterated’ (taken away from them) by an evil data lord and must turn to a teenager named Brenna Cole, her Aunt Jai and the organisation they belong to, called Incognito, to discover who had them obliterated and why. Incognito is an organisation opposed to the government and their ‘no privacy’ agenda. Throughout the novel we discover that not all people are who they pretend to be and that to trust someone may cost you your life.
What Do You Think?
Write responses to each of these questions in your books. Do not write out the question – answer in full sentences
2. How will human beings be different? Will we change in any way? If so, how?
3. Will human beings treat one another differently in the future? Why?
4. Do you think we will live in a happier society in the future? Explain.
5. When you compare our world today with the world your parents or grandparents grew up in, what are the major changes you can identify?
6. Technology – What do you see as being the benefits of technology? What are the negative things about technology? (think of 3 points for each)
7. Stereotypes – What is a stereotype? Why do people stereotype? What can happen when we do stereotype others? How might you stop people from stereotyping others?
8. School – How do you imagine school will change in the future? Outline 3 ways you think schools might be different in the future in comparison to today.
9. Teenagers – What are 3 significant issues/concerns for teenagers today? What do you think will be 3 significant issues/concerns for teenagers 50 years from now?
Spelling
array, khaki, dingy, dismissed, granite, informer, intelligence, obliterated, refuse, inclined
Chapter 1
1. Put the following events in the order they occurred in chapter 1
- the security woman said ‘good luck’ to Karr
- Alicia was told to leave by the security woman
- Tad passed through the doorway’s electronic curtain
- Karr had to take off his designation jacket
- The security woman told Karr that he did not exist
- Karr thought the scanning machine was ‘malfunctioning’
- Karr thought is was a ‘huge bonus to have Alicia as his girlfriend’
- Karr recited his security number
- Karr wanted to get out of school and find his father
3. Based on what we have read so far, who do you think erased Karr’s identity and what reason would they have for doing so?
4. What do you think Alicia’s reaction will be when she finds out what happened?
5. What fears do you think Karr would have at the end of this chapter?
Spelling
impatient, amiss, obediently, envy, authority, surveillance, metallic, imperious, vitriolic, obvious, bracelet, significance, grim, manipulation, fate, regret
Activity
Karr was surprised that he had lost his identity. Write about a time when something unexpected happened to you or someone you know (1/2 A4 page)
Chapter 2
Fill in the blanks using the words in the word list
Word List
note, thought, humiliated, instructor, authority, mud-brown, Lucas, Jallow, demented, Reed, lenses, holographic, school, detention, knew, Brenna, Incognito, Karr’s, existed, Mr Sneep, like, victim, him, class, stand, obliterated
___________ saw Karr walk by her, followed by the ______. Brenna did not _____ to _______ out in the crowd. She had ____________ eyes due to the implanted coloured ____________. It seems Brenna ________ someone would be a _________ but she did no think it would be _______.
Brenna sat next to _______ who was a class _________. __________ was the Social Conditioning __________. Brenna _________ he looked like a __________ bird. This teacher put Brenna on _________.
Brenna knew the news that Karr had been ___________ had to get to __________ as soon as possible. Brenna passed Reed a ________ telling him what to do. Mr Sneep __________ Brenna in front of the class.
During detention Brenna was asked a question by ________. Brenna did not trust him. Brenna’s secret ambition was to be a ___________ director. Principal _________ met with all the prefects. The Principal said that _______ name would be removed from all _____ records and ended by saying that he no longer _________.
Activity
Brenna pretends to be someone she is not. Comic book superhero’s are known to do the same thing. Imagine you could be any superhero in the world. Write about who you would be, what your superpowers would be and an adventure that you had. (1.5-2 A4 pages).
Spelling
essentially, direction, extrovert, likeable, personality, indicated, deliberately, procession, escort, implant, harmonious, individual, holographic, submissive, mandate, emulate, provocation, sadist, insolent
Chapter 3
1. What is a vizaphone module?
2. Why do you think someone would have ripped out the surveillance camera?
3. What caught Karr’s attention in the module?
4. Was Karr given access to Digidata? Why?
5. Why did Karr feel ‘chilled through to the core’?
6. Who was Karr’s best friend?
7. Why had Karr ‘never really looked at the blankly anonymous buildings’?
8. Why might there be ‘faces pressed against … tinted windows watching him trudge along’?
9. Who picked Karr up?
10. What is Alicia’s attitude towards the police officer?
11. Describe Alicia’s father.
12. What is Professor Peverills’s attitude towards Karr?
13. How did Alicia feel about leaving Karr?
14. Where do you think Karr will go now and what will he do?
Activity
The vehicle which Alicia is driving sounded very advanced. Create a mode of transport which we may be able to use in the future. Draw a picture of your creation and label all of its features.
Spelling
infectious, vandalised, emergency, identifying, elation, module, dissident, impulse, anonymous, disconnected, tiring, demeanor
Chapter 4
1. Put the following events in the order in which they occurred in the chapter
- Clay asked who was keeping the bureaucrats honest
- Brenna was sure Ms Plato would never mention the DNA issues
- Brenna received a personal message – ‘Incognito’
- Lucas gave Brenna Mr Sneep’s message
- Brenna headed for her History of Secrecy class
- Reed told Brenna it was urgent she went home right after school
- Brenna knew if she spoke her mind the school’s authorities would take an interest in her
- Brenna thought about how Karr would be feeling
- Ursula approached Brenna and Reed
- Brenna had to give the class a definition of the ‘Bad Decades’
2. What happens in this chapter that suggests not everyone is in favour of the government stopping people from keeping secrets?
3. ‘Nothing is secret. Nothing should be secret. That is the only way to achieve an open, free society’ (45). What is your opinion of this statement?
Activity
Brenna had a relatively bad day at school. Write a short story about a teenager who has a bad day at high school (1.5-2 A4 pages)
Spelling
legislation, supercilious, criminal, ruining, genetic, acutely, impending, scrolling, distaste, leak, secrecy, nefarious, deposed, bully, sneer, simultaneously, imparting, vehement, rapacious, coverage, visualised, stocky, privacy
Chapter 5
1. Fill in the blanks using words from the word list provided;
Word List
parents, holoscreen, violent, thought, approached, Leith, ten, Aunt Jai, data lord, code, three, school, ignored, obliterated, Faye, Reed, slums, Tracts, hit, deliberately, lying, president, oblits, father
Karr ________ about what happened. He also remembered ______ he had seen before and _________. The ________ was where these people went.
Karr __________ his building. He punched in the ______ but no one was there. Karr ______ the screen. Karr’s _______ arrived in a taxi. He too had been ___________. He said that ________ Banks was helping them. Karr’s father said that they had been ____________ obliterated. He gives the impression that he thinks a ___________ is responsible.
Brenna spoke to the new student, _______. Brenna said that _________ taught her what to look for when someone was _______. Brenna went to the Tracts, which was also called the _______. It sounded like a very _______ place. In Brenna’s home there was a ___________ on one wall. We are told that there are ______ data lords, each appointed by the __________ and administration for a period of _____ years. Jai wants _______ to get close to Alicia because she suspects one of Alicia’s _________ may be a data lord. Jai says she will take ________ out of school if there is any danger.
2. Do you think Karr’s father is connected to Incognito? What gives you this impression?
3. What do you think the reaction of the student’s at school would be if they found out Brenna lived at the Tracts?
Activity
This novel is obviously set in the future. Write a list of 10 things that you think will be different in the world 50 years from now.
Spelling
cautious, malicious, urban, shriek, embellish, expecting, wipe, judgement, incomprehensible, suspicious, catastrophe, echelon, penthouse, indecisive, unit, sensors, glitch
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